They are often brought up in the justification for or as evidence for consciousness outside the brain.

Amazingly, not all people agree.

I had one person argue that if the brain was "poked" then all bets are off,as it could have been an induced effect.

Each to their own, I suppose.

========================================================================================They keep forgetting that the brain is 90% water, and only 10% grey matter. And they're looking in the grey matter, but the fact is that if you remove the grey matter, you still can have consciousness. For instance, there're people that are born with very little grey matter in their heads, mostly water, and that function absolutely normally. However, if you remove the water, you're done, right? - Nassim Haramein

During OBEs, near-death experiencers (NDErs) are often astonished to discover that they have retained consciousness, perception, lucid thinking, memory, emotions, and their sense of personal identity. If anything, these processes are heightened: Thinking is vivid; hearing is sharp; and vision can extend to 360 degrees. NDErs claim that without physical bodies, they are able to penetrate through walls and doors and project themselves wherever they want. They frequently report the ability to read people’s thoughts.

Thanks for this link, Garry. This is the part I am most intrigued about and I can confirm that, when I interviewed Kevin Williams on this aspect, back in 2006, he was adamant about this conclusion, having researched a huge number of NDEs experienced by people from all walks of life.